.....everyone should take time out and enjoy National Fall Foliage Week.
Why is this special week so important to me and my children? Why should it be an important part of all family's lives? Why should we honor the glory and the simple vibrancy of autumn? Why create such a "mundane" week anyway?
It has taken years of constantly sharing and talking about National Fall Foliage Week until it has finally started to gain momentum, and in a way, that is pretty sad! We have so many stress-inducing obstacles in our way every minute of the day that we truly need to relax and enjoy the scenery surrounding us during this season of change and teach our children to do the same. At the same time, we need to reflect on how WE grew up and remember our parents and fore-parents before them. Genuine reflection will automatically reduce stress and, therefore, beckon you maintain that calmness and civility once enjoyed by everyone.
Get outside, leaving your cell phones on the kitchen table, and just simply take a walk among the crimson and scarlet flora. Either by yourself or with your children(regardless if they have grown up or not)talk, talk, talk and talk even more! Leave politics behind and talk on a personal level. It is during this week that I extensively allude to my childrens grandparents that have passed away and then talk about the lives of their parents as well. I go as far back as I can(which is a substantial amount of time because I have been handed all the old photos and stories of the Bailey family as well as having finished our genealogy).
This would even be a great time to visit the old cemeteries of loved ones in order to bring them into your conversation. There is no better way to honor deceased relatives then to remember them, especially since their headstones are usually surrounded by fall hues anyway. Take your children to the nearest apple orchard, pumpkin field or church supper. Take a drive outside the city to where you grew up or a place you are familiar with that has a place to get out and walk. Take a trip to a completely unknown "neck of your woods", get out and walk down main street or follow a river-side trail. Hop on your bikes and enjoy the crispness of the air. ANYTHING AT ALL!
One of the most important facets of National Fall Foliage Week is to prepare at least 1 meal from scratch, along with a dessert, that either you grew up enjoying or something simple that is linked to your community. In other words, in Maine, there are a wide assortment of foods that your ancestors enjoyed even though you may not know definitively that your grandparents ate. But they certainly had blueberry pie, whoopie pies, chowder, homemade biscuits, boiled dinner, baked beans with brown bread, apple pie, apple pandowdy, berry buckles, apple crisp, roast beef, pot roast, finnan haddie, salmon loaf....the list goes on and on. And if you are a New Englander, you can find original recipes for Yankee fare on foodchannel.com
Why is this special week so important to me and my children? Why should it be an important part of all family's lives? Why should we honor the glory and the simple vibrancy of autumn? Why create such a "mundane" week anyway?
It has taken years of constantly sharing and talking about National Fall Foliage Week until it has finally started to gain momentum, and in a way, that is pretty sad! We have so many stress-inducing obstacles in our way every minute of the day that we truly need to relax and enjoy the scenery surrounding us during this season of change and teach our children to do the same. At the same time, we need to reflect on how WE grew up and remember our parents and fore-parents before them. Genuine reflection will automatically reduce stress and, therefore, beckon you maintain that calmness and civility once enjoyed by everyone.
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| Yes, that is me carrying my youngest through a cemetery that our family is interred |
Get outside, leaving your cell phones on the kitchen table, and just simply take a walk among the crimson and scarlet flora. Either by yourself or with your children(regardless if they have grown up or not)talk, talk, talk and talk even more! Leave politics behind and talk on a personal level. It is during this week that I extensively allude to my childrens grandparents that have passed away and then talk about the lives of their parents as well. I go as far back as I can(which is a substantial amount of time because I have been handed all the old photos and stories of the Bailey family as well as having finished our genealogy).
This would even be a great time to visit the old cemeteries of loved ones in order to bring them into your conversation. There is no better way to honor deceased relatives then to remember them, especially since their headstones are usually surrounded by fall hues anyway. Take your children to the nearest apple orchard, pumpkin field or church supper. Take a drive outside the city to where you grew up or a place you are familiar with that has a place to get out and walk. Take a trip to a completely unknown "neck of your woods", get out and walk down main street or follow a river-side trail. Hop on your bikes and enjoy the crispness of the air. ANYTHING AT ALL!
One of the most important facets of National Fall Foliage Week is to prepare at least 1 meal from scratch, along with a dessert, that either you grew up enjoying or something simple that is linked to your community. In other words, in Maine, there are a wide assortment of foods that your ancestors enjoyed even though you may not know definitively that your grandparents ate. But they certainly had blueberry pie, whoopie pies, chowder, homemade biscuits, boiled dinner, baked beans with brown bread, apple pie, apple pandowdy, berry buckles, apple crisp, roast beef, pot roast, finnan haddie, salmon loaf....the list goes on and on. And if you are a New Englander, you can find original recipes for Yankee fare on foodchannel.com
But this isn't about promotion, this is about comfort. Comfort food, comfort time, comforting memories and above all, comforting your children!
Sound boring? If you can't make this week memorable in your own way, then that is the main reason why you should distance yourself from your cell phone! The internet has completely taken away your sense of imagination and thinking.
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